Glass review

GLASS:

UNDERWHELMING IN ITS LAST ACT, BUT MOST OF IT IS CLASSIC SHYAMALAN CREEPS AND TWISTS!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

(From left to right) James McAvoy, Samuel L. Jackson, and Bruce Willis in Glass

            Superheroes and villains are among us in Glass, the latest thriller directed by M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Visit) and a sequel to 2000’s Unbreakable and 2017’s Split, thus forming the Eastrail 177 trilogy. Ever since Bruce Willis (Die Hard franchise, Sin City 1 and 2, RED 1 and 2) reprised his role from Unbreakable as security guard, David Dunn at the end of Split there was a lot of hype for not just a sequel to Unbreakable, but a crossover film featuring characters from both movies.

            It makes perfect sense to bring these characters together, both films did well at the box-office and are examples of Shyamalan’s better work after a long slog of misfires from the director following the release of 2002’s Signs. But thanks to collaborating with producer, Jason Blum (The Purge franchise, Get Out, Happy Death Day 1 and 2) on The Visit in 2015 and Split, Shyamalan made a comeback with two well-received and commercially successful hits in a row.

            Now, we finally have the long-awaited Unbreakable sequel, Glass with Willis and Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Hateful Eight) reprising their roles as David Dunn and highly intelligent comic book theorist and mass murderer with very fragile bones, Elijah Price/Mr. Glass from Unbreakable, as well as James McAvoy (Atonement, Wanted, X-Men franchise) and Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, Thoroughbreds, The New Mutants) reprising their roles from Split as former Philadelphia Zoo employee with 23 different personalities, Kevin Wendell Crumb and the only captive who survived an encounter with Kevin’s hulking creature known as “The Beast”, Casey Cooke. After nineteen years of development and excitement, I can say that the first half of Glass is classic Shyamalan filmmaking at its best but disappoints in its final act.

            The film follows David Dunn working with his now-adult son, Joseph (Spencer Treat Clark-Gladiator, Mystic River, Much Ado About Nothing (2012)) and using his superhuman strength to protect people from criminals under his new alias, The Overseer. When he learns that Kevin Wendell Crumb kidnapped another group of teenage girls to sacrifice to The Beast, Dunn pursues Kevin only to find himself and Kevin in a mental institution headed by psychiatric, Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson-12 Years a Slave, The Post, Ocean’s 8).

            It turns out they were sent to the same institution that houses David’s arch-nemesis, Elijah Price/Mr. Glass who was responsible for causing the train crash that David survived all those years ago. When Mr. Glass hears about Kevin and his Beast persona, he partners up with Kevin and his 23 personalities with a plot to unleash The Beast onto the world, so everyone can see that superheroes and supervillains exist with Dunn and the only survivor of The Beast’s wrath who believes there is still some good in Kevin, Casey Cooke standing in their way.

            The film also stars Charlayne Woodard (Roseanne, Days of Our Lives, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) reprising her role from Unbreakable as Elijah’s mother, Mrs. Price and Luke Kirby (Halloween: Resurrection, Mambo Italiano, Rectify) as caretaker at the institution, Pierce.

            Overall, Glass is an entertaining but disappointing conclusion to the Shyamalan Universe, it’s better than some of his other films like Lady in the Water, The Happening, and ESPECIALLY THE LAST AIRBENDER! But compared to the films that preceded it, the film doesn’t really live up to the hype and the ending is lame and underwhelming.

            For the most part, Glass delivered what I was expecting, and the first half of the movie I think is really solid. The possibilities of what would happen if superheroes and supervillains really existed are explored even further, more of Mr. Glass’ backstory is shown and you legitimately feel sorry for his troubled life despite being the “Bad Guy”, and Willis, McAvoy, and Jackson do an incredible job working off each other and all three of them have great chemistry together.

            Sadly, the last third of the movie doesn’t live up to the rest of the film, it isn’t really a horrible ending but it’s just kind of bland, generic, and uninteresting. When I sat down to watch the movie, I was expecting something completely insane on par with McAvoy’s acting and when you hear what Mr. Glass and The Beast were going to do after they escape the institution, it could have made for an interesting and exciting climax, but instead we get a superhero equivalent of watching three nutcases trying to kill one another outside a mental hospital, it’s just not very interesting and not what this franchise deserved to end on.

            Without giving much away, let’s talk about the “Shyamalan Twist”, it’s not bad but it felt like a retread of Shyamalan’s Unbreakable twist to me. I mean, it’s kind of interesting how it ties both Unbreakable and Split together, but you’ve already seen it happen so where’s the shock value? I guess it’s better than having aliens that are weakened by water and wood.

            Even though the third act falls apart, I still recommend Glass, just don’t expect a wild climax that’s going to change your perspective on the franchise. It has plenty of frights, action, and McAvoy overacting in glorious Shyamalan form.